Race Information

• Name: Maratona Internacional de Porto Alegre
• Date: May 31, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18728750666
• Time: 2:55:39

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	sub 2:55	No
B	Sub 3	Yes

Splits

Kilometer	Time
5	20:40
10	20:44
15	20:47
20	20:35
25	20:44
30	20:41
35	20:51
40	20:56
42.2	09:42

Training

Male, 26y and second marathon!
My training has been very consistent over the last 3 years, and this was my second marathon (in the first one, I did it in 3h03 with of ~20ºc).

In the last 14 weeks, I averaged ~90km per week, peaking at 111km.

I had 1 or 2 quality workouts per week, one on Wednesday and the other on Saturday for a long run.

I was able to do several workouts and feel good w them, which gave me a lot of confidence, as I was running well at 4:00/km and thought my marathon pace would be around 4:05/km, but I decided to conserve more energy since it was only my second marathon.

Pre-race

The day before the race, I did almost everything I'm used to, except that I woke up at 3 am to watch my wife in her first half marathon, which she did great, lol.

However, during the 3 days before the race, I increased the amount of carbohydrates I ate to ensure a full tank.

The night before the race, I managed to sleep well, at least 6 hours, which I consider good considering it was before the race.

Race

I planned to run at 4:08/km and try to do a negative split to around 4:03/km.

The race day had almost perfect weather — around 15°C — but the humidity was very high, close to 97%, which made things a bit harder than expected.

From km 1 to 5, it felt pretty normal. Nothing special, just settling in. There was a group forming, with people taking turns at the front, but overall it was a controlled start.

From km 5 to 17, it started to feel a bit harder, but I was still getting properly warmed up. The pack was big, and we were rotating well at the front, which helped a lot mentally and physically.

From km 17 to 25 was probably the best part of the race for me. I felt strong, confident, and comfortable. I even took the lead of the pack for a while, and everything was flowing really well.

From km 25 to 30, things started to get tough. I began to feel like I could hit the wall, similar to what I experienced in my first. We were running at around 4:08/km, and it was starting to feel unsustainable.

From km 30 to 35, it got really hard. We decided to slow down slightly from 4:08/km to around 4:10–4:11/km. A friend asked if I was okay because we were starting to lose contact with the group — they were maybe 20 meters ahead. I wasn’t feeling great, so I told him I’d try to hold that pace. He chose to stay with me, which helped a lot. At that point, I honestly thought everything could fall apart. I just kept repeating to myself: “Believe, believe.”

After km 35, I managed to recover a bit, thanks to some friends supporting me on bikes, which gave me a huge boost.

At km 40 and 41, I was very emotional. I could barely breathe and genuinely felt like I was dying (in a funny way, but still real).

Nutrition was also a challenge. I took a gel at km 30, but I was already feeling nauseous. The same thing happened in my first marathon. - even though I trained this a lot during this preparation.

At km 35, I had another gel planned, but I could only take half. After km 35, even grabbing water from the aid stations became difficult. It’s crazy how even the simplest things feel so hard in the final part of a marathon.

Overall, it was a very tough but rewarding experience.

Post-race

Marathons are hard and I'm very happy with the results, let's go for more!

Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.